


gotta raise a little hell

by disinvxltura



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Homophobia, Inappropriate Humor, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-05-31 13:14:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15120164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disinvxltura/pseuds/disinvxltura
Summary: Jason looks down at the toilet paper. True to the boy’s words, there is a design that looks like a five pointed star with two circles around it, Latin inside the circles. Faint, but obvious once pointed out.He doesn’t like where this is going.or: jason accidentally summons hell's most unpredictable demon feat. edgarton day and boarding school9/1/18: updated info on schedule





	1. won't you take me down?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by a prompt that goes "a demon that writes messages on your mirror with blood but they're useful messages. like 'remember you have yoga at 6 tonight", but with my personal twist
> 
> this will be updated on sundays, but with **no set schedule**. hope you all understand.
> 
> work title: raise a little hell by dorothy   
>  chapter title: take me down by the pretty reckless

Jason mops up his blood from where it drips down his nose.

The hallway outside the boys’ restroom is quiet, for the most part. Had this been a public school, there probably would be yelling from the nearby classrooms or maybe laughter from kids skipping class. But he’s at an all boys boarding school where the guys are children of blue bloods, all fresh pressed button ups and expensive shoes.

The bleeding doesn’t stop.

Jason takes a chance glance up at the mirror above the sink and starts. There is a _boy_ there, and Jason could have sworn he was all alone. The door didn’t open, unless Jason was that deep in his thoughts. Something tells him that isn’t it.

The boy — adorned in black, from head to toe — coughs. “I was wondering when you were going to notice.”

And, yeah, something seems weird. Jason points his bloodied wad of toilet paper at the boy. “Do you normally watch people in bathrooms?”

If the mystery boy is disturbed by the blood, he doesn’t show it. “Nah. I usually don’t get summoned to them.” Jason stares. “Oh come on, if you’re doing this particular ritual, there’s no way you couldn’t have done this before.”

“I… haven’t.”

The boy scoffs. “What do you mean, you haven’t? There’s no way you could have _not_ done this before. That pentagram is super complicated. You not only have to draw the five pointed star, you have to—” He stops. There is a beat where he says nothing, only narrows his eyes at Jason. “You’re not lying, are you?”

Jason shakes his head.

“Then how the hell did you…?” His eyes are drawn to the toilet paper. “Oh.”

Jason looks down at the toilet paper. True to the boy’s words, there is a design that looks like a five pointed star with two circles around it, Latin inside the circles. Faint, but obvious once pointed out.

He doesn’t like where this is going.

As if reading his thoughts, the boy waves a hand. “Not a problem. Accidental summonings happen all the time. But I don’t feel bad for the demons who get summoned by other ways of blood summoning.” He laughs.

Jason slowly puts the toilet paper back up to his nose. “Can I just tell you to leave?”

The boy laughs again. “Sorry, but no. Once summoned, a demon has to do its master’s bidding until dismissed.” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “You don’t need to sell your soul, though. Demons were abusing that left and right, and it got changed.” At Jason’s blank look, he rolls his eyes. “Yes, there are demons who enforce laws and rules. Shit, just because we’re creatures of sin doesn’t mean we can’t have order to have things run efficiently, damn.”

“What are my options, then?” Jason taps his foot, looking over the boy’s shoulders at the restroom door.

“Well, there’s always sex for a favor.” A wicked grin. “Talking isn’t the only thing I can do well with my mouth.”

Jason turns red. “How did you know I like guys?”

“I didn’t.”

Jason, if possible, turns even redder.

The boy cackles. “Anyway, the name’s Nico. I’ll be your personal servant for literally whatever you want me to do. What’s your name?”

Jason, still recovering from the flirtation, has to take a moment to process that. “What— uh, Jason.”

Nico hums. “Well, you see Jason, I kind of have to know what you want me to do. Preferably now. And, remember: it comes at a price.”

“As enticing as making a homemade gay porno sounds, I’m gonna have to reject that offer.” He points at the door. “You see that? Anyone could walk in, and my teacher is probably wondering what’s taking me so long.”

Nico sighs. “I could fix both of those problems, but fine. How about… Me giving you answers for your homework in exchange for painting your nails whatever color I feel like?”

An eyebrow raise. “That’s a weird offer. But no.”

The other boy throws his hands up in the air. “Then what’s the point? If you’re not gonna take advantage of me being here, then why am I—”

“You give me reminders in exchange for you painting my nails.” Jason sighs. “God, I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

Nico looks up at the ceiling at the mention of God. “Don’t invoke Him around me.”

“Why not?”

He scowls at Jason before sighing. “Those from Above can find me if you say anything that involves…” He looks helplessly up at the ceiling. “Them. You can say His name when I’m not around you, but just not while I’m present. Understood?”

Jason put his hands up. “Okay, okay. Understood.”

With a satisfied smile, Nico steps back. “Then the deal’s been made.” He waves at the taller boy. “Toodaloo, motherfucker.”

Just as quickly as it began, Jason is left alone in the bathroom, toilet paper still held up to his nose as he stares at the spot where Nico was standing just a second ago.  
  
"This is going to go well."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please, along with kudos, leave comments! i get motivated when i see people taking time out of their day to comment on my fics.
> 
> thanks! :D


	2. taking everything in my stride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for homophobia and (implied) domestic violence/misogyny
> 
> going forward, there will be potential for homophobic comments and language in this fic, so if you are at any time uncomfortable, feel free to click away.
> 
> i'll make sure to let you know in the summary.
> 
> chapter title: highway to hell by ac/dc

It takes a few days, but when Jason gets back from his shower the Tuesday after meeting the demon, he finds a sticky note on the side of his desk.

_You have a pop quiz in AP Calc on Trig derivatives. Review your notes between breaks; you should be able to go over all of them a few times before the quiz. — Nico_

Staring at the note, Jason takes a deep breath before walking over to where he had laid his uniform out and starts getting ready for the day.

Just before he leaves, he folds the sticky part over and puts the note in his pocket.

 

* * *

 

Just like the note warned, there was a quiz during his third hour AP Calculus class.

“Now,” Mr. Cochran says as he straightens the papers in his hands, “You need to have these learned by heart if you want to pass any tests from here on out.” The class groans, and Mr. Cochran points the stack at them. “We’ve been studying them for long enough. You should have trig functions memorized already, and if you don’t, this will be a wake-up call.”

Jason just puts his head in his hand as the teacher passes out the quiz.

Having a demon helping him is definitely not the worst decision he’s made.

 

* * *

 

When Jason comes back to his dorm room after classes, the first thing he does is change out of his uniform.

As he’s pulling off his button up, he hears a whistle from behind him. “Looking good. Remind me to pop in here after showers.”

Jason yells and spins around, instinctively covering up his chest with his shirt. “What the hell?!”

Sitting at his desk is Nico, who has the biggest grin on his face. And unlike the last time Jason saw him, the only black thing he’s wearing are his Converse. “Just joking. That’d be an invasion of privacy. Besides, I thought you were going to be completely clothed when I came here to collect, but hey, I’m not gonna complain if you decide to give me a strip tease.”

Jason has to take in deep breaths in order to banish any violent thoughts from his head. “Give me a little warning next time.”

“Can’t promise that, but I’ll try not to spook you _too_ much.” Nico tilts his head. “I mean, it’s fun to scare the shit out of people. You should try it sometime.”

“No thanks.”

“Lame.”

Jason just shakes his head and lowers his shirt, tossing it onto his bed. He tries to ignore Nico staring at his chest. “Could you at least not look at me when I change?” He turns back to his wardrobe to pick out a shirt.

Nico huffs. “What kind of underwear you wear tells so much about you as a person. Like for me, wearing boxer briefs says that I like wearing skinny jeans.” When Jason glares at him over his shoulder, he rolls his eyes. “ _Fine_. I won’t look, scout’s honor and all.”

Deciding that’s the best he’s going to get, Jason changes out of his pants. He hears Nico make an appreciative sound and prepares for the worst.

“You play tennis?”

That’s not at all what he thought Nico was going to say. As he’s pulling on a pair of jeans, he responds, “Yeah. We’ve got a bunch of sports here. Fancy boarding school for rich kids, you know.”

“I like to play badminton,” Nico says, and when Jason faces him once more, he’s picking at his fingernails. “I can make the birdie go high up.” He smiles proudly. “I make a lot of people _ooh_ and _ah_ at me. It’s pretty great.”

“Huh.” Jason sits down heavily onto his bed. “Maybe we can play sometime.”

“Sure.” Nico leans forward. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here.”

Jason nods. “I saw the note. We agreed on… painting my nails, right?”

“I’m honestly surprised you even agreed to that.” Nico snaps his fingers and a bottle of clear polish appears on Jason’s desk. “Since I’m not an absolute asshole, I want to make sure that your nails match with your appearance.”

Jason arches an eyebrow. “And that means?”

“Nothing that you need to know.” Nico studies him for a long moment. “Definitely blue. Though you could work cool colors just fine.” He snaps his fingers one more time and a bottle of pale blue polish appears in his hand. “Go wash your hands.”

With that clear dismissal, Jason goes to freshen up. When he comes back, Nico’s humming something that he thinks he’s heard on the alternative station Thalia likes.

“Ah, good, you’re back.” Nico straightens up and uncaps the blue nail polish. “Put your hands on the desk.”

“Bossing me around, huh?” Jason says as he sits at the edge of his bed, resting his hands on the cool wood.

“You seem to like it.”

“Not really. I just figure that it’s better to do as you say. You’re a demon, after all.”

Nico snorts. “I’m not a powerful demon or anything. I’m actually pretty benign. More of a nuisance than anything.” He begins to paint Jason’s nails, and Jason has to take a moment to get adjusted to the feeling of paint on his nails.

“Definitely a nuisance. But a sometimes helpful nuisance.”

Nico shrugs. “You didn’t exactly summon a demon on purpose. Though, that was definitely enough to make the higher ups scramble, so thanks for having a bloody nose, I guess.”

Jason watches Nico. His hair falls into his face and he blows at it, only to have the locks fall back in the same place. “How does that work, exactly?”

“How does what work?”

Jason shrugs. “Hell, I guess.”

“Well, for incidents like yours, there’s a lot happening. Unless you ask for a demon by name, we kind of have this hotline to Hell, so any old demon could come to make a deal with you. Since I’m not particularly powerful, I’m kind of always on call. So it’s like a part-time job.”

Jason nods slowly. “You have any other jobs?”

“Technically, I’m supposed to be causing chaos and mayhem. That’s my ongoing job, since I’m a demon and that’s what we’re known for. But I’m not particularly violent or anything. It’s enough for me to go on the internet and chat with people one-on-one.” Nico flashes a grin at him. “I’m a pretty confusing person, so I can talk circles all day long and still get that paycheck.”

“So _that’s_ why you like non sequiturs.”

Nico nods. “That and it’s fun. I mean, I could say the most random shit and get the delight of seeing people look at me like I’m crazy and earning money at the same time. It’s a win-win.”

“Makes sense.”

“But anyway, what you didn’t see was me reporting the incident to the higher ups. Like I kind of implied, we’ve got a system. Even though we might be chaos personified, we have to be able to be chaotic effectively.” Nico purses his lips as he flicks the wand a bit too much and gets polish on Jason’s fingertips. “So, we have to have order. And when it comes to incidents involving pentagrams in toiletry, it’s too big for a single demon to change without there being some kind of repercussion, especially with the company.”

“So, what happens?”

“Well, since we don’t want to waste our time with accidental summonings, we need to make sure that the problem is fixed. So we have to file a report that says what happened and where, send it off to the right demons, and then they’ll send out a demon to temporarily change the offending material. Then another demon has to contact the company and alert them to what has happened. They’re the ones who make the final change.”

Jason sits in silence for a moment. “What if it’s on purpose?”

“The pattern?” Nico makes a face. “Then we make sure that the person who did it is fired and curse them.” He shivers. “Never saw it happen personally, but I’ve heard what was done a few times. You _don’t_ want it to be on purpose. Accidents we can forgive, but if you make us do more work than we really have to, we get pissed: we’re missing out on actual deals.” Nico puts the wand back in the bottle. “We’re in the business of selling souls, you know.”

A thought nags at Jason. “You said that demons used to take advantage?”

“Oh, yeah.” Nico blows at his hair. “This was way before my time, but back when machines were starting to become a thing, some poor soul would accidentally cut themselves and bam! They were forced into a deal and got their soul taken away.”

“That hardly sounds fair.”

Nico scowls. “It’s not. Eventually, demons realized that innocent people were being tricked by these demons, so they made it a law that you could not force someone into selling their soul if the summoning was not on purpose, and you had to check to see if it was accidental. If you get a person to sell their soul and the summoning was not on purpose…” Nico looks away. “It’s not pretty.”

“You seem to have more morals than I thought demons did,” Jason notes.

Nico looks at him from under his bangs, lips pursed. “You could say that.”

The hair on Jason’s neck raise up, so he keeps quiet, despite wanting to ask more. Nico eyes him for a few seconds before inspecting the room.

“Your room is pretty... Sparse.”

Jason looks behind him to his walls. Except for a framed picture of his sister, there was not much in his room that wasn’t already provided by the school. “Not a lot that I could bring from New York.”

Nico nods to himself. “What do you like? Any interests?”

“Uh…” Jason thinks for a moment. “I like hockey”

Nico pulls the nail polish wand back out, going over Jason’s nails a second time. “Hockey, got it. Anything else?”

“I like science, I guess. Bruce Springsteen. History.”

Nico hums. “How about your Hogwarts house?” He looks up from his task. “Unless you haven’t read Harry Potter.”

Jason studies him. “Slytherin.”

Nico blinks at him, hands stilling. “Huh. Never would have guessed that, but hey, I just met you a few days ago.” He goes back to painting his nails. “Maybe next time I’ll paint your nails green. You’d be able to pull it off.”

Jason snorts. “Nobody expects it. They think I’d be a Gryffindor, or maybe a Hufflepuff.” He shrugs. “Nothing wrong with either of those houses.”

“It’s just not you?”

“It’s just not me,” Jason agrees.

Nico caps the nail polish and sets it aside. “Okay, so the two coats of paint are done. We just need to wait for it to dry and then put on the top coat. And I’ll need to come back every few days to put a new top coat on.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

* * *

 

When Jason goes down to supper in the evening, the lady gives him a bemused smile before swiping his card.

Jason takes his food over to his usual table that he shares with a few of the guys he has classes with. The conversation halts as soon as he sits down.

“Dude,” Jacob says as he stares at Jason’s nails, “I didn’t know you liked to paint your nails.”

Jason can only shrug. “It looks good, right?”

Christopher leans over the table to peer at Jason’s nails. “These look as good as my girlfriend’s nails, and she has to pay someone to do them for her.”

Jason feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulder until he hears someone behind him clear his throat.

“That’s so gay.” Everyone at the table looks at the person who spoke— Wes Hardenbergh, one of the midfielders for the school’s soccer team.

“Nothing wrong with that,” Jacob pipes up. “There’s really no difference in a boy’s butt and a girl’s butt.” Christopher shrugs but doesn’t say anything else.

Wes snorts. “Sure there’s a difference. One I want to squeeze, the other one I want to kick, especially if they’re looking at other guys’ asses.”

Jason stares coolly at him. “Pretty sure you shouldn’t beat women.”

Both Jacob and Christopher laugh behind him. Wes’ left eye twitches. “You implying that I like guys, Grace?”

“It’s not as though you made it hard.”

“You fucking—” Just as Wes is about to wind his arm back, a security guard is stepping in front of him.

“Any problems here, boys?”

Jason glares at Wes from behind the guard. “No, Wes was just leaving.”

Wes scowls at him and Jason raises his eyebrows in response. “Go on then. Go to your table and eat.” Wes points at Jason and mouths _Later_ before storming off.

As Jason turns back to his friends, he makes a mental note to thank Nico for giving him a manicure.

Maybe he’ll take up on his offer to paint them green.


	3. don't send me no angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there is one line that sounds like it is homophobic, but it is not the intention
> 
> chapter title: dark nights by dorothy

Jason’s walking back to his dorm a few days later after tennis practice, hair still wet from his shower, when he spots two people in a deep discussion on a bench.

That in and of itself isn’t weird, but what _does_ make it weird is the fact that they both have milkshakes in their hands, neither of them are in uniform, one of them is a blonde, and the other looks like it’s Nico.

The people around them are at least ten feet away, and as Jason watches, a guy starts walking down Jason’s path before pausing and turning right back around.

Jason eyes the pair skeptically before making his way over to them, and as he gets closer, he manages to hear some of their conversation.

“—that’s fine, good for you. That’s why you’re still an Upper.”

“You mean, that’s why I didn’t betray my Creators?”

Nico sighs wearily, rubbing at his temples. “I don’t know why you’re trying to argue with me on this. You’re not going to agree and that’s that. All that I ask is that you leave me alone and just let me do my thing.”

The blonde scoffs. “And _my_ thing is killing Lowers and stopping them from wreaking havoc on Earth.”

There’s a loud slurp from Nico. “And, theoretically, my thing is killing Uppers, but I didn’t do that, did I?”

The blonde goes to open her mouth before her grey eyes slide onto Jason’s form. She gapes. “A human? But I made sure that no mortal would interrupt our—”

Nico turns around, face brightening as soon as he catches sight of Jason. “Ah, yeah. That’s my human.”

“Your _what_?”

“My human.” Nico takes another slurp of his milkshake.

The blonde glares daggers at Jason. “Oh, so that’s why you’re waiting around here, huh? Waiting on your soulless human to take you to his place and commit sins?”

Jason kind of wishes he had a milkshake now. “Yeah, sorry, I don’t know who you are, but I didn’t sell my soul. So if you could cut the attitude, that would be nice.”

The blonde’s eyes flash white. Nico puts up a hand, and her eyes turn back to thunderstorm grey. Nico stands up.

“If you don’t mind us, we _did_ make a deal. You can go back to your job and I’ll go back to mine.”

The blonde gives him an irritated look before standing up and tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I suppose I should report back to Heaven.” She pauses for a second, clearly thinking about something. “Thanks for the milkshake.”

“Not a problem.” Nico salutes her and walks off as Jason is left to witness the blonde disappear into thin air. Jason stands there for a beat before jogging to catch up.

“What was that about?” Jason asks when he’s next to Nico. Nico gives him a look out the corner of his eyes.

“The exact reason I warned you not to say any Upper words around me.” When Jason doesn’t respond, he sighs. “Demons and Uppers have been at war for thousands of years, long before the first human was ever created. So the invoking of one of the sacred words from Above means that they can track me down and, in theory, kill me.”

Jason frowns, mulling the words over. “In theory?”

“You’d _think_ they would just kill me, but the thing is? Uppers are righteous, sanctimonious assholes. So all they really do is go ‘You betrayed our Father, hallowed be His name! His kingdom come, His work will be done on Earth as it is in—’” He huffs. “You know.”

Jason looks back to where the blonde was. “So that was a…”

“We call them Uppers, but I think you can work out what humans call them.”

_Angels._ Jason nods. “She was down here to kill you?”

“More like to give me a lecture, really.” Nico pushes his hair out of his face. “As most Uppers usually do. Really, she doesn’t need to worry about me committing any sins; the only sin I’m committing right now is drinking a milkshake when I know full damn well that I’m lactose intolerant.”

“So, yeah, what’s up with the shakes?”

Nico smiles. “I offer to buy food and discuss their visit.”

Jason looks down at the cup in Nico’s hand. “That explains it, then.”

“Yep.” Nico takes a long suck through the straw. “Usually confuses them, so they agree. Of course, there are a lot of Uppers who think I’m luring them into a trap.” He shrugs. “That’s fair. I’d think the same thing, really. But most agree.”

“Kill them with kindness.”

“No killing, of course, but yes. That’s how I managed to survive for this long without killing anyone.” Nico drops his cup in a garbage bin on the side of the path. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here.”

“Going to tell me my fortune?”

“Actually, yeah. Something like that.” Nico pulls out a sleek black phone and unlocks it, revealing a list that contains mostly planets. “I’ve got your future, but I’m also cross-checking it with your transits to see if there’s anything you should really keep an eye on.” The screen changes to another app and Jason spies his name at the top.

“Excuse me, how do you know my name?”

“Hm?” Nico tears his eyes away from the screen. “Your name?” He looks back to his phone and laughs. “Oh, yeah. Right. As soon as you make a deal, we know everything about you. Of course, it’s private, so very few demons will know personal details. Our database is very secure.”

Jason doesn’t feel that reassured, but he nods. As they approach Chamberlain Hall,  Nico gives him a knowing look, as though he can read Jason’s thoughts.

“Maybe two demons know about you, and that’s including me. Even if there were more, we’ve probably had millions of deals made and had only one incident of information going places where it shouldn’t have. That was a demon who decided to play an April Fool’s prank a couple of decades ago and they’re still getting tortured.” Nico waves a hand. “You’re fine.”

Jason gets them into the dorm with a swipe of his ID. “I still don’t like the thought of it,” he says as he leads them to the elevator, “but if it lets you do your job? Fine, I guess.”

Nico shrugs, somehow seeming less present as they step into the elevator. The boy already in the elevator with a laundry basket next to him seemingly passes over Nico and waves at Jason before hitting the ‘close doors’ button.

“So, you should probably look for opportunities to build something long lasting in your life.” Nico leans against the wall as the elevator starts going up. “And since Jupiter is in your first house, you’re probably going to be more serious than usual. You should also watch out for any internal conflict, like your wants and needs going against each other.” He makes a face. “You’ve got the square in your birth chart, and the sun is opposite your moon.”

Jason eyes him in confusion. “Uh, okay?”

Nico shrugs. “Might not happen, but with the way things seem to be going, you might want to keep an eye on that for the next week or so. Also, watch out for overconfidence, maybe even impulsive behavior.”

The guy with the laundry basket is humming along to something on his phone, not even paying attention to them. Jason nods slowly. “Don’t do anything stupid. Got it.” Nico rolls his eyes, but when he goes to open his mouth, the elevator doors open. “Come on, it’s my floor.”

Jason pulls Nico out of the elevator and the doors slide closed behind them. Nico scowls at him.

“Thank you for respecting my personal space,” he snaps as he tugs his arm away from Jason.

Jason puts his hands up. “Sorry, sorry.”

Nico just glowers at him before marching off in the direction of Jason’s room. How he knew where it was, Jason wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

It was probably better if he didn’t.

 

* * *

 

Jason drops his duffel next to his desk. When he turns back, he finds Nico making himself comfortable on his bed.

“It’s not as though I sleep there or anything,” he says, crossing his arms. Nico tilts his head back to gaze up at him silently. Jason sighs and takes off his glasses to rub at his eyes, setting them down on the desk. “Fine, you can stay there, but you better make room for me because I’m dead on my feet.”

As Jason throws his sweat-stained clothes into his hamper, Nico asks him, “So, you like hockey. What team?”

“Flyers,” Jason replies, hanging up his blazer. He peeps at Nico over his shoulder. “Why do you care?”

“No reason,” Nico says, typing something into his notes. Without his glasses on, Jason can’t read the screen. He reaches out for where they should be— but only grabs air. He frowns and pats the area near the spot, to which Nico snorts.

“Why are you groping your desk?”

“Glasses,” is all Jason says before he drops to the ground. Not underneath, either. Lovely.

He hears the bed creak. “He’s so callipygian,” Nico whispers in awe from where he’s perched atop the bed.

“Don’t know what that means, so hush it!”

Nico snickers, and the bed creaks even louder as he flops back onto the bed.

Jason clambers up. “So, out of curiosity, have you seen my—?” He cuts himself off when he sees familiar black frames on Nico’s face. “Glasses. You little shit, give them here.”

Nico cackles. “Nope!”

“Yes, Nico.” He crosses the room and reaches over to grab them from Nico only to have him clutch them to his chest. “Nico!”

“Yes?” Nico looks up at him, batting his eyelashes. Jason rolls his eyes and attempts to pry his glasses away from him. “Hey! You have to ask nicely.”

Jason levels him an irritated look. “I need them to see, Nico. Just give them to me.”

“Ask nicely.”

“Okay, fun-sized personification of chaos, may I have my glasses back?”

“How did you know my kink?” At Jason’s surprised expression, he laughs. “Okay, okay. Just kidding. I don’t think that’s my kink.” He unfolds the glasses and carefully puts them on Jason’s nose. “There you go.” His hands linger by Jason’s face, some unknown emotion in his eyes when he finally pulls his hands away.

“Finally.” Jason stands up straight, ignoring Nico, who grumbles under his breath about missed opportunities. He closes his closet door. “Is that all you came by for?”

Nico’s silent for a moment. “Yeah.” Jason hears the bed shift. “Yeah, of course. That’s all.”

“Okay, good, because—” When Jason turns around, there’s an empty space where Nico was sitting. “I need to do homework. Okay. Bye, I guess.”

When he goes to lie on his bed, he can’t help but feel as though he did something wrong.


	4. oh, give me that fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: french. lots and lots of french. 
> 
> if you have a cursor, hover over the words. if you are on mobile or otherwise don't have a cursor, click.
> 
> with that, enjoy!
> 
> chapter title: fire by barns courtney

Raindrops trickle down the pane of glass. Through the window just above his bed, Jason can see the San Gabriel mountains, gray on gray.

He turns his head back toward his desk. His French homework lies there, abandoned in his moment of boredom. Next to the paper is the sticky note from the first time Nico had warned him.

Jason frowns. It's been a couple days since Nico visited last, and while he's gone longer without Nico before, he's never gotten the sense that he might have seen him for the last time. Until now; right in the middle of his chest there's this ache, preventing him from feeling anything else.

Jason pushes the note aside.

This only makes his homework jump out at him. Jason sighs and pulls the paper closer, letting his mind be carried away by conjugation and declension.

* * *

There’s a knock on his door.

Jason looks up, blearily. With a look to the clock on his phone, he realizes that he’d spent a good half hour on French.

"Zut,” he mutters. The person at the door knocks again, louder. “Attendez!” He pushes the chair back with a scrape, and he grimaces. Once at the door, he swings it open— and is faced with a dark-skinned girl with hair the color of cinnamon, and an Asian guy with a few inches on Jason. “Est-ce que je vous connais?”

“Non, vous ne me connaissez pas. Je m'appelle Hazel, et celui-ci,” she waves to the guy behind her, who waves at Jason, "c'est Frank. Vous connaissez déjà mon frère.”

A moment of confusion. “Pourqoui parlez-vous—” Jason shakes his head, doing his best to switch from French to English. “Sorry, I was just doing homework for French.” He squints at them. “What brother?”

Hazel and Frank exchange a look before Hazel answers, “Nico.”

“But he’s a—”

Frank puts his finger to his lips. Jason immediately shuts up. “We don’t use any realm-specific language. Just Uppers and Lowers, Below and Above, et cetera.”

Hazel gives Jason an indulgent smile, jerking her thumb back to Frank. “Our relationship isn’t quite conventional, so we have to go under the radar whenever we meet up.”

Jason simply raises an eyebrow. He’d love to speak, but it feels like his mouth is glued shut, so he couldn’t even open his mouth if he wanted to. Hazel looks to Frank pointedly, and Frank finally puts his finger down.

“Okay, time out. Time fucking out.” Jason takes his glasses off, as if that’ll help him think. “How is Nico your brother? And what do you mean, relationship?”

Hazel and Frank give each other another unreadable look. Jason’s starting to hate it when these two do that.

Jason pinches his nose before making a rash decision. “Come in. I feel like this might take a while.”

* * *

“Well,” Frank says once they’re all situated in Jason’s room, with Hazel and Frank on the bed, and Jason in his chair, “we’re dating.”

“The thing is?” Hazel leans forward. Jason has the urge to lean back, even though he’s at least a foot away from her. “I’m a Lower, and he’s an Upper.”

Jason points between the two of them with the hand that’s holding his glasses. “Okay, Uppers and Lowers like to hold hands, sometimes. Fine. I’m not even surprised at this point.” He shakes his head. “But what do you mean, Nico’s your brother?” He slides his glasses back on. 

Frank places a hand on Hazel’s shoulder, and she gives a shaky laugh. “Long story, but he’s the one who convinced me to Fall.”

Jason looks between the two, his mind reaching out for explanations that aren’t quite there. “Fall? You wanted to trip over yourself?”

Frank gives a snort, and even Hazel looks amused. 

“No,” she says. “Do you know how… the Big Bad Red Dude was given the boot?” Honestly, he thought Nico was bad. “Look, we don’t have a consensus on what to call him. The Big D? Horrible, absolutely terrible.” Hazel’s eyes crinkle. “So, of course that’s the one Nico likes.”

Jason manages a smile before letting it fall, wracking his brain. “The guy in charge of Below?” Frank nods, while Hazel just looks at him. “He… was cast out from Above, right?”

“He Fell,” Hazel confirms with a nod.

“So Nico made you be kicked out?”

Hazel looks at him as though he’s grown two heads. “No, of course not,” she spits out. “Nico would never do that.”

“Okay,” Jason placates, two hands up. “Just tell me what happened, then.”

Hazel glares at him. Frank nudges her, and when she looks up at him, her anger crumbles. She sighs. “Okay, so here’s the thing: I was an Upper.” She turns her gaze back to Jason, and her gold eyes appear to see right through him. “I was determined to do good, and bring all that is pure to the humans below.” She grows quiet.

Frank smiles apologetically at Jason. “She sometimes gets like this when she remembers.” Hazel swats his arm.

“One day, I finally managed to track down a—” She shakes her head. “A Lower. Somewhere in Chicago, right by Lake Michigan. All he was doing was playing with a phone, but I could sense the energy around him. Definitely a Lower. Not powerful, but the people around him were getting agitated.”

Jason leans forward in his seat. “And this Lower was Nico?”

“Way to cut to the chase, huh? No wonder Nico likes you.” She crosses her arms. “Yeah, it was Nico. And you know the first thing he said to me? ‘Hi, do you want to get a burger?’” She snorts. “Sometimes, I wonder if he has a death wish.”

Jason wouldn’t rule it out.

“So, here’s this scrawny white boy asking me if I want a burger. _Ouais, putain!_ Of course I want a burger; I’d be insane to pass on that kind of offering. So we get the food, and we get to talking.” Hazel watches him with a steady gaze. “I don’t know how much Nico’s told you, but Uppers usually are given orders to find Lowers and vanquish them. Nico… isn’t evil. Not like we’re told, up in Above. He wants balance in the world.”

Jason nods. So far, what Hazel says matches up to what he knows of Nico, so he doubts Hazel’s lying.

“Humans have kind of figured it out, but Uppers want complete and total rule on Earth. When Uppers and Demons go to war for the last time, it’s for control of the mortal realm. If Uppers win, what is Above is on Earth. And, allegedly, what is Below is on Earth.” Hazel makes a face. “That’s the propaganda.”

Pieces of information start connecting in Jason’s head. “So, wait. Humans think Uppers are the good guys and Lowers are the bad guys, but Uppers are the bad guys and Lowers are the good guys?” Frank clears his throat, and Jason blushes. “Sorry.”

“That’s not really it,” Frank says, wrapping an arm around Hazel’s waist. “It’s more like… the Uppers believe that He wants Above on Earth. Nico’s theory is that…” He remains silent for a moment. “His theory is that He put a virus in Uppers, and that if spread, it meant the creation of Lowers.”

“Because the first Lowers were Uppers?”

“Exactly.”

Jason takes a moment to reflect. “I… don’t even know what to think of that. I didn’t believe that there was a possibility of a higher being existing until a week or so ago.”

“It’s not as though it really matters,” Hazel pipes up. “Most humans can live their life without ever truly knowing that He exists.” She shares a look with Frank. “In fact, back when I was an Upper, I heard talk of Him regretting his decision to make His presence known to humans, with the way humans discriminate amongst each other. It is not His way.”

Jason drums his fingers against his leg for a minute, letting Frank and Hazel watch him in silence. “You didn’t tell me how Nico was your brother.”

“Uppers and Lowers don’t really have families, since we aren’t like humans and don’t have bodies.” Hazel sits up straight. “When I Fell, Nico took me in. He let me stay with him, and taught me what it was like to be a Lower.” She bites her lip. “We’ve remained close ever since then. So, we’re not siblings like humans can be, but we still have that bond.”

There’s a nagging thought, in the back of Jason’s mind. As much as he appreciates all the information he’s gotten within the past few minutes, there was one thing yet to even be addressed; one that just does not add up to these recent events.

“Why are you here?” he asks finally.

Hazel and Frank exchange looks. While Frank was passive, Hazel was much more obvious, her whole demeanor was telling: her back was ramrod straight, her eyes too bright to look at directly, her jaw set. He waits for one of them to speak.

“Nico told me what happened,” Hazel says in a careful voice, but Jason could hear the anger just waiting to burst.

“I’m sorry,” he says as he pushes his glasses up, rubbing at the corners of his eyes. “You’re going to have to tell me what exactly I did wrong.”

Frank tightens his grip on her waist. “Hazel—”

Hazel’s eyes burn brighter. “You led him on!”

Silence. Jason opens his mouth, closes it, and thinks back. Summoning Nico, making a deal, Nico painting his nails, meeting an angel, Nico visiting him personally. Standing over Nico, his eyes alight as he waits for Jason to make a move...

Jason’s stomach drops.

Frank’s murmuring something to Hazel in a language Jason can’t quite understand. She’s still angry, but seems to have calmed down a bit.

Jason raises a hand timidly. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t leading him on. I…” He shakes his head in disbelief. “I don’t even know where you got that from.”

Hazel opens her mouth, but Jason gives her a pointed look. She juts her chin out.

“Really, I don’t. I haven’t shown any interest.” He rubs his head. “Unless I have? But if I have, it definitely wasn’t intentional.”

Frank smiles in relief. “See, Hazel?” He nudges her. “This guy wasn’t trying to hurt Nico.”

Hazel, however, doesn’t seem to share the sentiment. “You were going to kiss him!”

Jason tilts his head. “Are you talking about me trying to get my glasses back? If not, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Hazel stares daggers at him. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He frowns. “I mean, I don’t know what Nico told you — because he definitely did, if you know about that — but he stole my glasses. All I was doing was getting them back, and because he was refusing to give them to me, I ended up over him.” Hazel glares harder. “I wasn’t trying to do anything!”

“Hazel,” Frank murmurs, “It’s going to be fine.” Hazel huffs, but breaks her gaze away from Jason.

“Though, really,” Jason begins, “Nico should have come to talk to me himself. He’s, what? As old as I am? Older? He talks as though he’s a few decades my senior. So why is it that I’m being mature about something that’s ultimately his fault?”

Hazel’s eyes glow red hot. Frank — the poor guy, why did Jason ever open his mouth and bring him into this mess — yelps and scrambles back. Jason’s frozen in place as Hazel jumps up.

“I knew there was a reason I didn’t like you!” She yells, ringing in Jason’s ears. “Of course Nico decided that his asshole of a human was his favorite! You don’t even deserve him.” She growls. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Frank finally reaches out and takes her wrist in his hand. “Hazel,” he soothes. “He’s human. He misspoke. It happens.”

“Yeah?” Hazel whips her head around, curls bouncing. “Then why is he such a dick?” Frank only raises his eyebrows at her. She closes her eyes, and when she reopens them to give Jason a sharp look, they’re not glowing anymore. “Fine. Still a buttmunch, though.”

“I hear people like having their butts munched,” Jason butts in. Hazel ignores him, and given what he’s just said, it’s probably for the best.

“See? Just a silly human.” Frank pulls Hazel back down on the bed, and she curls up against his side. “Il s'est mal exprimé, mais il a raison. Nico aurait dû parler. C'est son problème, pas la tienne. Tu le sais.”

“Il est encore vexé...”

“Oui, mais ce n'est pas de ta faute.” Frank presses a kiss to her temple. “Ne t'enquiètes pas pour lui,” he says, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Ils devaient se débrouiller tout seuls.”

Hazel nods stiffly. Jason only has a vague understanding of what just happened, but he does get the gist of it; Nico told Hazel, but she came out here of her own accord, not Nico’s.

Somehow, that does nothing to ease the queasiness in Jason’s stomach.

Frank interrupts Jason’s thoughts. “We’ll be going now; We’ve caused enough of a scene.” Hazel glares at Jason, but there are no glowing eyes in sight, so he’ll take it as a win.

As the two get up, Jason rubs at his temples, contemplating how this had happened to him.

Frank clears his throat, and Jason spins around in his seat. Behind Frank, Hazel gives him a death glare.

“Do you know what you want? Or do you know what you think you want?” Frank asks, expression carefully blank. Jason’s eyebrows scrunch together.

“What does that even—”

“You’ll find out. If not soon, then later.”

And with that, Frank and Hazel blink out of existence, leaving Jason to himself— and his thoughts.

_“Also, watch out for overconfidence, maybe even impulsive behavior.”_

Last time he’ll ever doubt Nico’s wisdom.

* * *

When he comes back to his room after practice the next day, he finds a bright orange shirt on his bed. There’s a note on top; even though it doesn’t have a name, Jason knows exactly who it’s from, and the mere thought makes him want to curl up in a ball.

”I’m sorry.”


	5. nothing's ever built to last

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, hover for cursor, tap for non-cursor
> 
> enjoy!
> 
> chapter title: 21 guns by green day

Nico’s missing a shoe.

This is because he’s standing on Jason’s bed, waving it around and yelling incoherently. Jason watches him with a bottle of water halfway to his mouth, not noticing that he’s spilling water down the front of his shirt.

That is, until Nico turns around when he finally notices he’s not alone and starts yelling about _that_ , pointing at his chest. Jason doesn’t quite get the beginning — thanks, brain — but he tunes in just in time to hear, “I _knew_ you’d like that!”

* * *

Okay, maybe he should back up.

It’s a day after the apology. He left his friends after dinner to make his way to Chamberlain Hall; Christopher and Jacob live all the way across campus in Faynor, so they split up.

Whatever stormfront that came through a few days prior is gone, letting the October sun shine for the final week until November comes rolling in. Jason even got to wear the shirt Nico gave him yesterday, so whatever plans the stars had in store for him could only be good.

Silly him.

Jason opens the door to his room to find Nico going, “Oh, hey. What’s up, motherfucker?”

Jason doesn’t really know what he’s speaking to, but he decides to keep his mouth shut and simply watch. Maybe he’ll find out.

Maybe he’ll realize that his demon is just crazy. Always possible.

Under the impression that Nico is just talking to himself or maybe some higher being, he uncaps his bottle of water. Just as he’s raising the bottle to his mouth, Nico _squeals_.

Because about a few inches under the ceiling — and a good foot away from where Nico’s on his bed, one shoe in his hand, the other not in sight — is a spider.

A big fucking spider.

Nico takes an unsteady step back, and all Jason can hear through the screaming is the confirmation that yep, that’s a spider. A really big, fast spider.

Nico takes a swing at it with the shoe — or, at least, that’s what Jason thinks he's trying to do. Not even halfway through the motion, he aborts. And, holy shit, is he _crying_?

Jason makes a mental note to revise his earlier thoughts on this being a good day.

Which leads to where they’re at now, Nico yelling about Jason’s shirt, and Jason only just realizing that, oh yeah, he was gonna drink that water that’s now down his front.

It’s fine. Everything is fine.

The spider scuttles across the wall, and when Nico catches sight of it again, he _screams_.

_Whack!_ goes the shoe when he swings it against the wall, finally killing the spider. When the shoe is pulled away, the remains of the spider — gross — are stuck to the wall.

Nico makes a face. “You got any tissue? Toilet paper?”

“Of course,” Jason drawls, “You know teenage boys. Always getting off whenever we have any free time.”

“I… meant for blowing your nose, but thanks for the mental image.”

“Oh.” Jason feels his face heat up. “No. No, I don’t. But I can get some.” Before Nico can say anything, Jason rushes off to the communal bathroom.

He might splash some cold water on his face while he’s there.

* * *

When he comes back, Nico is on the ground, ass up in the air.

It occurs to Jason that ever since Nico dropped into his life, it has turned into what feels like a porno. Or just some trashy romance novel you find in those clearance bins at the local store.

Hey, God? Thanks! He hates it.

Grunting, Nico crawls back from where he’d been scavenging under the bed. He gets up and waves the shoe in his hand in victory. “I found it!”

Jason claps politely. The sound’s muffled by the toilet paper in hand, but Nico looks pleased all the same.

“I know I’m great,” he says, swiping his other shoe from where it sat on the floor, near the head of Jason’s bed.

Jason watches him before holding out the toilet paper. “You needed this?”

“Oh, yeah.” Nico crosses the room and takes it from him, hopping back up on the bed and scooping the spider's remains off the wall. “You know, if we consider bugs and spiders to be living beings, aren’t we murderers? We’re killing them.”

“Wouldn’t tigers be murderers, too?” Jason moves closer to the bed, arms akimbo when he stops. “Wouldn’t any animal higher up on the food chain be murderers? Besides, murder is defined by the unlawful premeditated killing of another person, so no.”

“You admit that there’s killing involved, though.”

“Uh, yeah. That spider is definitely squished, which generally means it’s dead. Also that you killed it.”

Nico jumps down from the bed. “Does it have to be human to be considered murder? If it was a tiger killing a tiger, would _that_ be murder? There has to be laws and rules, right?”

“Maybe.” Jason scratches his head. “But it’s not as though we would know, since we can’t communicate with tigers like we can with other human beings. And part of the definition is premeditation, so even if we were to ignore the part that includes humans, we wouldn’t be able to say if it fit the definition.”

“Wouldn’t we be able to figure that out by observing them?” Nico tosses the trash into the garbage bin next to Jason’s desk.

Jason hums. “Sure, but while there’s the assumption that there are rules in the animal kingdom, we don’t know what they are, because, once again, communication barrier.”

“So it could be part of the rules?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“Well, fuck.” Nico pulls his shoes back on. “There goes that idea.”

Jason stays put, opting to just watch Nico. If Jason didn’t have a good feel on Nico, he would’ve thought that Nico was calm and laid back — anyone who wasn’t familiar with how Nico behaved would have thought so.

There are a few problems with that conclusion: Nico’s refusing to look up from his shoes, and his movements are robotic, almost jerky.

Jason narrows his eyes. Both of those things are the exact opposite of how Nico usually acts; his eyes constantly roam, never focusing on a spot unless in distress. And his body language, for the most part, is open.

A light bulb goes off in Jason’s head.

“Hey,” he begins, sitting down in the middle of his bed, watching how Nico stills, “I’m not angry about what happened before.”

“It’s fine,” Nico mutters. He’s still not looking up. “I’m fine. It’s whatever.”

It’s an obvious lie.

“I thought you sent Hazel to do what _you_ needed to do, but I guess she decided to take it up with me by herself, didn’t she?”

A beat.

“Yeah.” Nico finally pulls his gaze from at the floor, lips in a thin line. “I knew she was going to, and I know I shouldn’t have told her, but I know that she wouldn’t leave me alone until I told her what was bothering me. Even if it was fucking stupid.” He mumbles the last sentence, and Jason’s heart drops to his stomach.

Just as Jason opens his mouth to speak, Nico puts his hand up. “It’s fine. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. Can we just move past this?”

Jason lets his shoulders slump. “Sure. Okay.”

Nico smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Good.” He holds out his hand. “Let me see your nails.”

* * *

“You really don’t have to do this, you know.”

“Shut up,” Nico mutters, “I wanted to do this.”

Nico’s hunched over the desk, meticulously painting silver stripes on Jason’s nails. Next to him stands a bottle of dark green polish, cap not closed the entire way.

“Really, you don’t.”

“I made a deal, didn’t I?” Nico takes a break from his work. “For the price of painting your nails what I want, I give you help, mainly reminders and advice. I’m doing my job, and I refuse to quit.” His eyes are intensely dark; Jason wants to looks away — knows he should — but for some reason, he just can’t pull away.

Jason nods dumbly and doesn’t say anything for the rest of the night.

* * *

Everything is bright.

The stone floor is white, the buildings in the town center are made of blonde brick, the sky is clear — but there’s no sun.

Jason squints, tipping his head back, back, back until he feels like he’s about to fall over. There is no sun, there are no clouds. Only blue above and swirling white below.

That gives him pause. There’s no way the floor could be moving, logically speaking. Maybe it’s just a pattern and his eyes are deceiving him. Yeah, that has to be it.

Jason kneels to investigate. He almost falls over— the floor _is_ moving. The material in the floor is billowing and expanding, moving from one side to the next.

Like clouds.

“What the heck?” Jason whispers before he stands up. The stone paved path he’s on leads to a tan cathedral that towers over all other buildings, obscured slightly by trees along the road. Dark Gothic windows litter the front, extending to what looks like twice the height of the door. A cross is at the very top of the steeple.

Water shoots up from a fountain in the center of the plaza. Just behind the fountain is a garden full of daffodils, white lilies, roses, and a weird purple flower that looks like a mandala.

Jason makes his way towards the cathedral. As he walks closer, he sees a café, an ice cream parlor, a clothing store filled to the brim with white clothing. Black lamps line the streets. In the middle of the roads are miniature gardens, with the same flowers he saw before.

He keeps walking.

The same weird flowers from the garden — this time in pink and white — line the walkway leading up to the church.

Soon, he’s at the dark cherry doors. Pulling them open, he gingerly steps inside, letting the door close with a thud. He almost immediately wants to run back out.

For there is a girl standing at the altar. Her curly blonde hair cascades down her back over a loose, sleeveless dress. There’s a golden ring hovering just above her head, and the white wings on her back ruffle as he steps closer. When she stands to face him, her gray eyes glint with a light that he recognizes in just about every demon and angel he’s run into.

“Hello again,” she greets, and Jason is hit by just how much he’s reminded of Nico; they both share the same flickering gaze. Nico usually doesn’t look like he’s about to shoot lasers out of them, though.

“Why am I here?”

She tuts. “Didn’t anybody ever tell you how rude it is to not say hi back?”

“Did anybody ever tell you how rude it is to interrupt people’s dreams?”

The blonde rolls her eyes. “How else was I supposed to contact you? You’re busy sinning with your Lower, and I doubt you think highly of me.”

Jasin raises an eyebrow. “Somehow, I get the feeling you’re not so fond of me, either.”

She mutters something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like _stupid humans_. She takes a deep breath. “Shall we start over? I am Annabeth, and you are in Heaven. I’ve brought you here as a token of my good will.”

Jason scowls at her. “You already know that I made a deal. Why are you bothering?” When she stays silent, Jason stares at her. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

If she heard what he said, she doesn’t let it show. “The other angels agree with me that you are much too good to be selling your soul to a Lower. We can help you get it back.”

“What are you even talking about?”

“You sold your soul,” she speaks as though she’s explaining something to a two-year-old. “Your soul now belongs to those Below. Us angels think you are too pure to waste such a soul.”

“Hold up.” Jason puts a finger up. “Wait just a second.” He glowers at Annabeth as he tries to steady his breathing. “I didn’t sell my soul.”

“But you made a deal!”

“The summoning was accidental. It’s against the rules to take my soul when the summoning wasn’t on purpose—”

She scoffs. “Sure, that’s exactly what they try to tell you.”

“The summoning wasn’t on purpose,” Jason repeats, louder, and notes with satisfaction how Annabeth’s wings curl around her. “So, instead, we made a deal that he would help me and get to paint my nails in return.” He raises his hand and watches as her jaw goes slack.

“But… Lowers are…” She shakes her head vigorously. “He’s just a fluke. Lowers want to take your soul. Once he’s reeled you in, he’s going to stab you in the back and steal your soul right from you. We won’t help you then.”

“You keep assuming that I want your help.”

Annabeth is affronted. “Why wouldn’t you want my help?”

Jason arches an eyebrow, arms akimbo. “This is my life, my choices. If I wanted to, I could call the whole thing off.” He lets his arms fall to his side. “But the thing is? I benefit from this, so I don’t see why I would want you to _help_ me.”

She shakes her head in disappointment. “Do you know what’s worth fighting for?”

“Why are you quoting Green Day?”

She waves a hand. “Not relevant.” She eyes him with distaste. “If you rebuke our offers of help, then I suppose you are hopeless.”

“Glad you’re catching on.”

Her eyes slowly brighten until they’re glowing white, and her halo is almost as blinding. “Then it is done. Jason Alexander Grace, you are no longer welcome in Heaven. You are doomed to spend your eternal life in the fiery pits of Below. _Vade retro_!”

The church walls around him blur around him, almost as though he’s being pulled through hyperspace.

He wakes up with a start in his bed. The moon shines onto the sheets, and the stars wink at him from above. His heart pounds in his chest.

“It’s just a dream,” he tells himself, panting, as he pushes his hair out of his face. “It’s just a dream.”

He doesn’t think he believes himself.


	6. they try to keep me down, but i just get higher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter title: higher by the score

There is a series of sticky notes on his laptop when Jason wakes up.

_Back to the sticky notes_ is his first thought before his brain catches up and realizes that they’re not, really. Not how one would think of them, at least: these are penguin shaped.

Cute, functional, and somehow shocking.

Light manages to sneak its way into Jason’s line of sight. He squints, turning his head toward the window. The late October sun is hiding behind a cloud. Near the horizon are big, lumbering gray ones creeping their way towards the campus.

_Good time for decision making. This period should be when you get a good head start on any new projects or ideas. It will feel like you will get a lot accomplished._

_Making plans for the future is easy right now. With this transit, you’ll gain optimism and self-confidence._

_This might be a time where you find yourself struggling to be around people. Don’t beat yourself up too much; this will pass within a day._

Like the one that came with the shirt, these aren’t signed.

Jason folds them over and places them on his desk, sitting next to the previous ones. In the faint morning light, he can’t read what they say, but he doesn’t have to.

He knows them by heart.

* * *

The sky above is gray and bleak.

The gloominess creeps into Jason’s being, dragging him down, making him feel as though his next step will make him fall flat on his face. With glasses on, that is something to avoid at all costs.

Everyone else seems subdued, too. Guys on Jason’s tennis team hardly look at him, much less wave at him — except for one, and even his movements are sluggish.

It’s just as well: Jason would rather have a bowl — or three — of macaroni and cheese, watching everyone go about their day.

It’s odd, though. He’s usually just fine with cloudy days — he loves rain, and his personal favorite are thunderstorms. He feels cleansed, invigorated; he’s one of the few that aren’t bogged down by the dull skies.

The note from earlier in the morning fills his mind, pushing and poking at his consciousness.

_Another reason to trust the stars_ , he muses.

But he’s got an AP essay for Language and Composition in a few minutes, and there’s no way he’d be able to skip class, anyway.

He quickens his pace.

* * *

When he meets up with Christopher and Jacob for lunch, he has to make an effort to put a smile on his face.

Jacob cringes at him. “Dude, you look one step away from pulling out a knife and sacrificing virgins to the dark lord.”

Christopher side-eyes Jacob hard. “What he means,” Christopher says, putting his hand on Jason’s shoulder, “is that you probably shouldn’t force your smile.” He doesn’t remove his hand. “You look like shit,” he adds, smiling sympathetically at Jason.

Jason feels his internal walls coming up. “I don’t look that bad.”

Jacob doesn’t even look at him, grabbing a couple of slices of pizza. “You look like you’re gonna collapse, man. Take it easy.”

Christopher pats his shoulder before pulling his hand away. “Don’t feel like you have to talk to us. As long as you’re with us, you’re fine. Right, Jacob?” This is coupled with a glare to the brown-haired boy, who just shrugs.

“Whatever works, dude.”

Jason feels a weight taken off of his shoulders as the trio walk to the registers, content to just listen to his friends.

* * *

The next morning is significantly better.

Sunshine washes over his bed, lighting up the tiny room with warm hues. There are no new notes on the desk, as far as Jason sees, but he has a feeling that the advice from yesterday still stands.

He never did get to make plans for the future yesterday, after all.

Jason opens up his window. Birds chirp from just below his windowsill. Boys are laughing and chatting amongst themselves as they head to the dining hall for breakfast.

The sunlight invigorates him, and as he prepares to get ready for the day, there’s a pep in his step that wasn’t there the day prior.

It feels good to feel like himself again.

* * *

“Hey stranger, want some candy?”

Jason almost doesn’t look up from maneuvering his duffel to a comfortable position on his shoulder, certain that the guy is talking to someone else.

His brain makes him look up, though. Just in case.

Leaning against the wall to the locker rooms is Nico, who’s holding a bag of chocolate bars. Jason looks at him skeptically.

“What made you think I’d like that candy bar in particular?” Jason pushes his duffel for it to rest on his back. “What if I like plain chocolate? Or if I don’t like any chocolate?”

Nico looks at the bag as if it had never occurred to him. As Jason watches, Nico’s eyes fill with a light that had died just a moment ago. The corners of Jason’s lips quirk up.

“You gave yourself away!” Nico’s grinning triumphantly, and Jason can’t help but return it. “You’re talking about hypotheticals, not facts. If you didn’t like it, you wouldn’t need to phrase it like you did.”

“Shoot, that obvious, huh?” Jason laughs. “Okay, I need to work on my devil’s advocate skills. Fair.” Jason tilts his head. “However, you still didn’t answer my question.”

Nico shrugs. “I’ll give you that much; I couldn’t have known. But I thought that if it turned out that you didn’t like them, that meant that I could gorge myself on them for Halloween.”

Jason’s brain skedaddles the fuck out, leaving him to gawk at Nico. Nico sighs.

“It’s Halloween, Jason. Did you somehow manage to forget that?”

The truth? _Yes_ , Jason has absolutely forgotten that today is, in fact, October thirty-first. He’s a mess, thanks.

“Er, yeah. A bit.” Jason laughs nervously, and he can see Nico’s expression softening a bit. “I’ve been busy.”

“Well, everybody should make a scene.” A smirk grows on Nico’s face. “This is Halloween.”

Jason can’t stop a laugh from escaping. “All right, dork,” he says when he’s calmed down, “Let’s go.”

He pretends not to notice Nico’s face turning pink.

* * *

“What do you _mean_ , you’ve been kicked out from Above?”

They’re sitting on a bench in the middle of campus, Jason squirting sports drink into his mouth, and Nico stuffing his face full of chocolate and caramel.

“Exactly what I told you.” Jason rubs his face with a hand. “She visited me in my dream, got mad at me, and sentenced me to eternal life in Hell.”

Nico gapes at him. It’s not a pleasant sight, with the mashed up chocolate and all, so Jason points to his own mouth before gesturing to Nico’s. Nico’s mouth snaps closed and he swallows thickly, shaking his head.

“She can’t do that,” he snarls. He’s staring at the ground as though that’ll change anything. “She can’t _do_ that. She’s not high enough in the hierarchy!” Nico jerks his head up to face Jason. “It’s not fair!”

Jason looks at him curiously. “How would you know if she’s high enough?”

“Not important.” Nico’s eyes burn holes into the ground— metaphorically, not physically. That would be hard to cover up, even with magic. “The point is that this isn’t your fault.” Nico scoffs. “Plenty of people make deals with demons because of accidents. They’re required to.”

“You didn’t say that.”

“Why did you think I was so pushy?”

Jason considers. “Because that’s how you flirt?”

Nico remains silent for a moment. “Anyway, once you’ve summoned a demon, accidental or not, you have to make a deal.” His lips curl in a sneer. “Plenty of people who make deals go to Above. And, you’re, what, sixteen?” Jason nods, and Nico snorts. “That wouldn’t hold up in the eyes of the Judge. None of this makes any sense.”

“It does seem like a bit of a plot hole, if you ask me.”

Nico sighs. He taps his fingers against the side of his thigh. “Then again, Annabeth is about as righteous and prideful as you can get. The quintessential Upper.”

From Nico’s tone, it sounds like there was some history between the two. “You two know each other?”

Nico freezes. His eyes find Jason, who just stares at him, waiting. “You could say that.”

Jason raises an eyebrow. “How long are you going to keep up that mysterious bad boy act? It’s getting a little tiring.”

“Until I die.” At Jason’s glare, he goes, “What? It’s true.”

Jason rolls his eyes.

“Don’t get sassy with me.”

“Too late.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Nico groans. “This is complete and total horseshit. There’s no way in hell that a deal that doesn’t even involve selling your soul would damn you to Hell. No way. She can’t take that away from you just because she’s petty and wants to take her anger out on you.”

Jason leans forward. “So, what do we do?”

Nico looks at him in alarm, like he didn’t expect Jason to ask that. “I— um…” His eyes dart all over the place, as if he’s looking for answers that aren’t there. “Frank! I’ll talk to Frank. He knows you’re not deserving of Hell.”

An eyebrow raise. “You think he’ll be able to reverse that?”

“Him?” Nico snorts. “If Annabeth isn’t high enough, there’s no way Frank is. No, he’s got connections that I don’t. He might be able to raise inquiries into this.”

“And what if he manages to do that and it does get reversed?”

“Not that much.” Nico puts his hands in his lap. “All it means is that Above is an option for you again, as it is for all humans. You’re not automatically going to go to Above; it’s just that it’s a possibility, based on what you do.”

“It’s a potential end, not a definite end.”

“Exactly.”

Jason nods. “Do you really think it’ll work?”

Nico runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t really see how it wouldn’t, unless the Uppers examining the appeal are prejudiced.”

“Prejudiced against what?”

Nico doesn’t respond.

“Again, mysterious bad boy act. Getting old.”

Nico fiddles with a ring on his finger, spinning it round and round and round.

Jason decides to drop it for now. “How long will this take?”

“Could be days, weeks, months.” Nico shrugs. “Most likely not months, but this definitely should not be as big of an issue as it is, so it might take a while.”

Jason nods. “Hopefully, I won’t die before then.”

“Great, now you’ve jinxed it.” Nico lights up. “Ooh, maybe you’ll become a demon, and I get to see you more.”

It’s a joke — obviously — but for some reason, it worms into Jason’s mind and refuses to budge.

* * *

When he goes to bed that night, Jason feels wound up, ready to pounce.

He doesn’t quite know why, even if he’s got a few ideas. But there’s also nothing he can really do about it, so he rolls, rolls, rolls around in his bed until sleep finally pulls him under.

In his last few moments of consciousness, he swears he hears a distant cackle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, feel free to leave comments below! this fic is fueled by your enthusiasm :D!!!


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